Finding Disney: Share YOUR Biggest Disney Nerd Moment

We’re highlighting the D23 Expo 2013 all week long with our special “Expo-looza”! You’ve heard the ins and outs of Disney’s biggest fan gathering, and the fun’s not over yet! Keep checking the WDW Radio blog throughout the week for more D23 fun.

Since D23 is all about celebrating the fans, today I’d like to hear your biggest Disney nerd moment. If you’re frequenting this website, odds are you’re cuckoo for the mouse. We all have those moments when our “nerd-dom” shines a bit brighter than usual, and those moments make for great stories. Share yours in the comments below for the chance to win a WDW Radio Mystery Ticket!

I’ll go first: My biggest nerd moment had to be walking into New Fantasyland for the first time. Pinching myself soon became mandatory procedure as I geeked out at where I actually was. Gaston’s tavern! The West Wing! Prince Eric’s castle! But the best of all was entering the queue for Enchanted Tales with Belle. The park had just opened, and this was our first attraction for the day. The sun was barely beginning to creep up over the trees and the area still very much had a dawn feel to it.

As we stepped into the queue, a Cast Member in Belle’s front yard wished us a friendly “Bonjour!” And that was all it took for me to go Disney crazy. I remained reserved on the outside, but on the inside I was applauding the Imagineers and Cast Members immensely. In that moment, I was literally in the story of the film: I was in the little town, the quiet village, and the people were waking up to say bonjour. It was surreal.

So that’s my biggest Disney nerd moment. What’s yours? Share your story below, and you might just be randomly selected to win a WDW Mystery Ticket!! Check back in next week’s Finding Disney post to see if you won, and stay tuned the rest of the week for more Expo-looza excitement.

Blake is a college student focusing on Creative Writing and Media Studies. He enjoys making his family of six watch the parade on Main Street and then sprint to Frontierland in time to see it again. You can follow Blake’s random Disney ramblings on Twitter at @blakeonline, or at BlakeOnline.com.

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Mine is actually from yesterday. I follow Disney’s toontown online game and play it off and on; have since it first was released 10 years ago. Being honest, it was a big part of my childhood gaming. I remember my sister and I fighting over the computer after the bus dropped us off from school. Though she “out grew” TT I remained an on and off player and always a fan. However, yesterday they announced the closing of the game and I was honestly heartbroken about this. I am playing again taking full advantage of reliving a great childhood memory (I’m in college.)

It’s as close to seeing a ghost as I’ll probably ever get. What could be nerdier than a grown man tearing up at being reminded of a man who died over a decade before he was born? But it happens. Every time.

SInce the age of 10, I had always wanted to work for Disney. My dream came true two years ago when I applied for the Disney College Program. I remember running around my apartment screaming like a chicken with its head cut off when I received THE email: “Dear Callie, Congratulations! You have been selected to participate as a Custodial Cast Member on the Disney College Program in the Spring Advantage 2011 Season.” It was BY FAR the best experience of my life! I got to live, breathe, sleep, and eat Disney. It was like seven months of vacation at the most magical place on earth! I worked at Magic Kingdom and got to see all of the inner workings, the behind-the-scenes, THE UTILIDORS. I helped make magic for a lot of Guests during the spring and summer of 2011. I bore my friends and family with endless, tireless stories of events that transpired as Cast Member at the Walt Disney World Resort as if it was just yesterday. I am proud to be a Disney nerd, and that is something that will never change!

My most recent Disney Nerd moment happened the first time I entered the Ballroom at Be Our Guest Restaurant and looked up at the ceiling. The incredible fresco and chandeliers looked exactly as they do in the movie. As I recalled the scene where the camera pans from Belle and Beast quickly up to the ceiling, I thought to myself, “Wow, I’m there!” The imagineers could not have done a better job.

This past trip I had many disney nerd moments. I was an extra on the backlot tour, finished the kitchen sink at beaches and cream, and met Lou Mongello at a meet of the month! But most magical was finally being able to afford my own annual pass after saving up money from work these past three years! I had finally achieved enough success to afford to pay for my passion.

Wow, your Disney Geek Moment!?! How do I pick just one? Could be stumping Ryan the Cast Member at Disneyland City Hall in Trivia last week. Watching the fireworks from the top of the Astro Orbiter During the Dreams Come True promotion. The “photobombing” by the castmember at Pirates in WDW. Or maybe the way we still say “seven” in the inquisitive, curious way Bill McCabe used to say it in the TestTrack Pre Ride video. My family has many many Disney Geek Moments, but the geekeiest of all happened last week.

We were in Disneyland, and had a rough start to the morning. Got out late, had to run back to the room due to a wardrobe mishap. Overall it was not a magic morning.

We returned to the park, and were walking from Main Street to Tomorrowland when we saw 2 Streetmosphere StormTroopers wandering around. They were swarmed by guests. Being “too cool” to stop, wait and interact, we waved and walked by. But then the geek thing happened. My 16 year old Daughter was wearing a StormTrooper on a Surfboard Tanktop. The Troopers, who we will call Harry and George, saw the shirt, and chased us. They stopped us, pointed at the shirt and nodded together in appreciation. Then the three of them, Harry, George, and Caroline, my daughter, all posed for a picture in the same pose as the trooper on the shirt. Best Picture EVER. Turned the mood of the day around. We were the Guests they were looking for. The force was with us that day.

When we first went around 20 years ago with my wife and two daughters (aged 8 & 5) we stayed off property.
Walking into Main Street USA, after seeing it on UK TV for many years on various UK programmes made me emotional.

Still get it now, first day we always visit Magic Kingdom.

Next visit Aug 23rd 2013.

Last visit July 2013.

FYI last time I was at Magic Kingdom, one of the Handsome Princes rushed past me.
I though he is rather dashing!

Being in the voting audience for America’s Funniest Videos. I did that exagerated motion of voting. Sometimes we see it on a rerun on a syndicated run of the show. We laughed about how animated we were to act when voting!

My biggest Disney Nerd Moment actually started 4 months before the day it actually took place.

Disney On ice was coming to St.Louis in late March and I was bound and determined to make sure I get a ticket. Tickets went on sale in November for the March shows. right at 10 AM on the day they went on sale I was sitting in front of my computer with credit card in hand in full Disney gear. I was wearing my custom made Ariel shirt, lanyard full of Princess pins, and trademark Fantasia sorcerer’s hat with mickey ears all for a transaction that wouldn’t even require me to leave the room.

As soon as tickets went on sale I pounced. It said best seat available was row 3 seat 9. I was content with that so I paid and printed out my ticket.

4 months passed and finally the day of the big show arrived but alas a huge snowstorm was on the way. After much internal debate (and a flip of a coin) I decided to brave the weather.

Totally overestimating things I got to the arena at 10 AM for the 1 PM show. Not even the guy at the merchandise stand (I wanted to say Cast Member but technically he worked for the arena, not Disney)was there yet. So for a good 2 hours there I was a 28 year old man in an Ariel shirt, pink lanyard full of pins, and my trademark hat sat in the arena alone except for once in a while the merchandise stand guy would come out to make some I wasn’t stealing anything.

Finally other people started showing up. I suddenly found myself in a room full of over excited little kids (some dressed as princesses) and parents whose facial expressions clearly said “I need a drink about now” Needless to say I was VERY over dressed for the situation. lol.

Finally the doors opened and we filed in the arena. I went to find my seat and walked down the stairs to the 3rd row from the ice. It’s a great seat I’ve had better…or so I thought.

A few minutes later someone came up and said I was in their seat. I presented my ticket to the usher and was told row 3 wasn’t the 3rd row, it was THE FRONT ROW! Seat 9 being dead center. FRONT ROW CENTER! I was bouncing with excitement. I was literally 6 inches from the ice. I was so close to the action that during the show Ariel herself pointed to me and mouthed “Love the shirt!”

Hmm, I feel like I have so many Disney nerd moments on each trip as I point out little details to my family members. But probably my biggest nerd moment was being able to enter into New Fantasyland one night a few weeks before it’s official opening. Just wandering around a pretty much empty New Fantasyland for the first time at night with all of the beautiful lighting really got me filled with awe!

My biggest Disney nerd moment happened on a monorail the first time my wife and I went together. There were a group of young women trying to figure out where to go for lunch, and it was obvious it was their first time to the Magic Kingdom. I asked if I could help them, and they told me the prices they wanted to pay, the kind of food they liked, etc. I made a few recommendations, and gave them some tips on which areas and rides to do first. As we pulled into the Magic Kingdom, they asked if I was a cast member, and I said “nope, just a big Disney nerd”

As a huge Beauty & the Beast fan, it was only fitting that my husband and I were married at the Yacht Club and Belle and the Beast came to share in our joyous occasion. But the one thing that gets me every time is attending the Beauty & the Beast show at the Hollywood Studios. At the end of every show, I sit and cry and hate to have to leave. There will be an emptiness when this show is gone but I can cherish the many photos I have taken over the numerous performances I have attended.

My biggest nerd moment was when I got my first picture with Mickey Mouse. Despite my family having visited the world many times over the years, I didn’t have a single pic with THE mouse! After waiting in line in the tent, I finally got to see Mickey! I told Mickey that I had waited many years for that moment (I was 20 at the time) and he gave me a kiss! We took our picture and then he even gave me a second kiss! I was floating on air for the rest of the day.

I have several & since I am the biggest Disney fan in my family, they think I am nuts! These are small compared to the above posts! The first thing that makes them think of me like that is my MANY emails daily that I get & the time I spend on the computer reading & taking notes for the next trip(s). Secondly, I went to WDW all by myself while at a conference in Orlando. Thirdly, my obsession for a certain mug that could only be bought in the parks. Since none of my friends or aquaintences could find ot take the time out of their trips… I finally found it online – luckily (I’d like to have another for preservation). Or is it my constant buying iPhone cases that show off my Disney enthusiasm? Lastly (not really just trying to keep it short lol), we took out first trip to Disneyland last month. We had never taken time to visit the Enchanted Tiki Room at WDW & what better place to do it since it’s the original Walt imagined… Well, my family just didn’t get the novelty of it. So there you have it! I’m not a Disney Nerd – I’m obcessed & have a personal goal to work there someday during retirement (BIG smile)!

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